New Beginnings

Wednesday, October 26th 2022 --

This was the first night of my Capstone course in the MICA UX Design program. The professor was discussing our capstone, or thesis projects, and how we would need to work quickly these last 8 months to produce a shiny portfolio piece & project for our final assignment. She shared how most projects were traditional, but there was one student in particular who had a particular set of skills and a vision for something outside the box, and he was granted permission to do something unique for his UX Design thesis project. With this in mind, the gears started turning in my head. "Do I have a particular set of skills I want to use?" 

We went around the room and shared the remnants of our projects that we'd initiated in the previous class - I half-heartedly described mine and just talking about the "health dashboard" bored me. I realized I didn't want to spend these last 8 weeks of my graduate program in Figma creating another mediocre app. I wanted to do something that excited me and helped me flex the wide range of my skills I've been working on culivating -- I wanted this to be really engaging and creative and...I wanted to make a game.

Following the heels of my failed 3-month game jam attempt, I was still itching to create a game. A loose idea formed in my head and I scribbed the following words into my notebook: "UX Design: The Game".  

I wasn't feeling well - I had a fever, so I went to sleep right after class. 

Thursday, October 27th 2022 --

Still not feeling well - but I'm excited about this new idea. I want to make a game for my thesis. This is a major pivot from my last project, and I have to get the professor's permission, so I wanted to put together a proof-of-concept first. I thought of a way to quickly create a game, within my current skillset (since I only would have 8 weeks to do this if approved)...Bitsy was the answer. I'd worked with Bitsy earlier this year, inspired by a friend who designed/developed her game solely in Bitsy. I even made a little unfinished practice game called 'The Marsh King' (also on my itch.io profile & playable if you're interested). 

I fired up Bitsy and started creating. At this point, I was just shooting from the hip. I didn't outline anything and only moved forward with those 4 words I scrawled in my notebook on Wednesday..."UX Design: The Game". It shimmered like a fable in my mind's eye and I just lost track of time creating little, pixelated office accessories and characters to fill this empty 8bit world.

Friday, October 28th 2022 --

Diagnosed w/ Covid!  Not feeling the best, but I really wanted to keep working on this. I'm nervous to ask if I can do this is as my thesis, but I will. Today I added more details & characters. Reviewed the dialogue options in Bitsy - trying to find a way to create some advanced game-loops w/ dialogue to see the constraints of the game. Would Bitsy be powerful enough for what I'm envisioning?

Saturday, October 29th 2022 --

I found some great  resources on Bitsy, (shout-out to Night City Academy on YouTube) and cracked the code on unlocking some more advanced dialogue options. I learned how to create & set variables in-game (tied to acquisition of items/actions) and generate specific non-player-character (NPC) dialogue based on if those items were acquired/actions were completed. This helped me add an engaging & immersive layer to the NPCs in the game and create a way to ensure the Player knows what to do next/what's the next objective. I spent all day building this into the game and creating several additional sprites/NPCs to interact with. 

I also created two additional maps for the game & e-mailed my professor asking for permission to work on this project in lieu of a traditional thesis. She said I could! With the greenlight in tow, I began to work on more little details for the prototype.

I tried (and failed) multiple times to try to focus on an outline for the game and work thru some of the bottle-necks I knew would be an issue for programming, but I couldn't quite do it for some reason. My eyes glazed over at the thought of trying to think this thru. IDK what that means, but soon I need to sit down and really think thru this. If this game is going to be a kid-friendly introduction to UX Design, in the vein of a "UX Design Bootcamp Simulator", I need to figure out a few things. Namely - how will it flow? How will I capture the research & actual design bits of UX design in-game? Can Bitsy handle my vision, or better yet, how do I tool my vision to fit the parameters of Bitsy?

Sunday, October 30th 2022 --

Spent some time cleaning up the prototype. Still haven't been able to think out an outline thoroughly. Attempting to set some resources aside for: 1.) adding audio to Bitsy, 2.) how to create multiple-choice options in game text 3.) investigating Bitsy & Twine combinations to see if this would be the "powerful' software combo I need to pull this off like I envision it. 

I also created this devlog & itch.io page so I could share the game's progress w/ my class & professor. Hi ya'll!